Diamelle and Jubaic were silent. Hearing it from the one who did it was chilling. The details that Simon provided while telling the story were vivid.
“This really happened?” Diamelle asked in terror.
Simon just nodded, never stopping to walk around in circles.
“Simon, just a question, how’d you feel when you kill someone?” Jubaic asked a pondering question. This was just his inkling, the boy had something wrong with him, normal beings don’t end up immortal and stuck in the abyss of the immortals.
The boy stopped, stared at the two of them, then he resumed to move “Nothing…” true to what he said, there was no hint of emotions from his words.
The two looked at each other.
“I’ve met warriors and knights before that felt nothing when killing something but they followed a code of not killing children or women,” Diamelle spoke this, Jubaic’s first time hearing the woman’s comment.
“My queen, remember that he was a child too!” Jubaic the mad man that he was loved to contradict. He then smirked as he saw the queen beginning to think for herself.
“You kill because you have to eat, you kill to survive, you kill to defend, what else matters?” the boy suddenly said, he had learned by example from the old man and his past experiences. He didn’t feel empathy towards thieves, lesser than the nobles whom he didn’t learn how to respect, “-I won’t kill for no reason but I will kill without mercy,” he ended with those cold words.
The two felt shivers as the boy said that, he was young and probably had only experienced the worst part of life. Diamelle thought “Poor child,” while Jubaic thought “Shit happens,” no more words escaped from their mouth.
“Should I continue the story?” Simon asked.
<--->
The old man was asleep, the Pam that was sent by the adventurer's guild was just standing by beside him, ready with a bed beside her.
Suddenly the old man rose. “He is here,” he muttered.
The Pam who was silently watching over him was not surprised. “Don’t stand up yet!” he warned the old man.
Steps against the wooden stairs began echoing, it was the Black Hood who came down first followed by the boy.
“Simon… long time no see… you grew,” the old man said seeing the figure of the boy. The boy didn’t have any facial reaction, he just steadily stared at the old man.
“Thank you for taking care of him,” it was the only words the boy muttered upon sitting beside the old man.
“I’m not going to die yet, don’t you say that!” then the old man landed a hard tap on Simon’s back. “It seemed that you were still doing your training, that’s good!” the old man could tell just by tapping the boy’s shoulder. His hard-inflicted lessons worked well.
“Old man, my sword is already torn,” the boy said showing his wooden sword.
The old man smirked. There was joy in his eyes that even the Pam was surprised.
The Pam smiled and stood up, she then gestured to the Black Hood. The two of them went up giving the two time to catch up.
<--->
It was a harsh winter that year. A ship was wrecked on the western coast of the eastern frontier. What it contained in the cargo were trade supplies that were supposed to land at the Trist Port.
But usually, the ship would bring more than that, there were prisoners under it too. Sometimes it would be military criminals or adventurers who did something hideous but that didn’t matter.
The water was cold, and the flow of the Guren Great River drowned out the sounds of the men trapped underwater inside a prison cage. They struggled to lift themselves up, but there was only a small space at the top of the cage that remained above the water.
The ones who were already dead beneath the feet of the other prisoners had already given up. Those still alive saw the cage's position as a rare miracle. It was standing on fragile, frozen ice that could break at any moment.
Still, one of the prisoners pushed himself up and commanded.
“Don’t move! Take turns breathing in!” some of the prisoners listened and of course, some did not.
Some of the prisoners who followed began the rotation. Some began killing those who were greedy for the air.
“We will fall if we move too much!” another one screamed. He was one of the few who listened.
From afar, the sound of oars plowing into the water could be heard. The prisoners who heard it struggled just to see a glimmer of hope but it was too misty between the water and the air.
“Huddle together! We can survive!” the same prisoner who shouted first said. His voice and words gave hope to the prisoners but they were all at odds.
The cold water, the losing space, the pillar of ice that supported them ready to break anytime. It was a slow type of hell.
“Hold on boys! We are coming!” it was another voice. There was a small boat approaching them, and the prisoners cheered.
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“Captain Rod here! Hold fast!” the man looked like a pirate. His hair was full of beads. He dressed lightly even though it was really cold.
…
The prisoners were brought to the shore, somewhere south of where they were found. Most of the prisoners died because of the cold, still, there were survivors easily counted by the hands.
The prisoners were made to meet the ground on their knees while their savior the captain of the small boat looked at them one by one.
The captain was quite disappointed that there was no female among the prisoners but that was okay, anyone would do, he didn’t care about their past or whoever they were, “Okay boys! Your lives are in my hands now! I’m only going to ask you a question! Just one question!” he had a charm in his words.
Of those who were still in his proper mind among the prisoner knew that the man that was standing in front of them was not a normal man. Evil seethed in his eyes as he smiled at them.
“Are you willing to work for me?-” he said pointing his hands to himself. “I treat my boys well and fairly, I beckon you to join our brotherhood or else you are on your own!” Captain Rod smiled again.
Immediately one of the prisoners raised his hands “I will join!” then followed by another. Out of the 13 that survived, 7 immediately joined.
“Oh! Great! That’s good!” the captain said gesturing his hand on one of the boys that was under him.
The man took out a cutter. The chokers on the prisoner’s neck sealed their magic. One by one, the chokers were removed by one of the Captain’s men.
“Okay, now let’s leave them be!” the captain said as he pointed back to his boat. His man began laughing. They were rugged, dirty, and a ragtag group of men of all sizes.
“Wait! How about us!” one of the prisoners screamed.
“You are on your own!” the captain said and the crew laughed. “No takebacks!” the captain added as he rod into his boat along with the new gang he acquired.
“Row it, boys! Show how it is done!” the captain grandly screams inspiring the rowers “-Back to our cavern!”
Their vessel was just a medium-sized boat, the captain didn’t even have the sail to install on it which was why all of the crew were rowing their boats. It would take about 2 to 3 hours of rowing to reach back to their base.
Pass the Fisher Man’s Village into the eastern cavern.
He was cooking something big. They were going to attack the Fisher Man’s Village a few days from now. The supply that he had from sinking the small cargo ship was not enough to last them to the next year.
Rather, attacking the Fisher Man’s Village was the only way to survive.
Captain Rod looked at the sky but there was no moon or stars. It was probably going to be a hail in a few days, this means that there would also be a haze in the sea.
“That would be a great cover,” he muttered as he felt the wind. “Easy boys! We are passing the Alimpuyo-an! Hear my commands!” the captain once lived as a slave and escaped from the underground prison of Elford’s Castle.
Ever since he had escaped he was living as a bandit. The past years they have been laying low but now that he had a bigger crew he wanted more.
<--->
It was finally the fated day. The air was cold while the southern coast of the eastern frontier was covered in haze.
Captain Jon sent men to attack directly at the Fisher Man’s Village while he used his boat to do a sneak attack into the port of the village. They would never know that they were coming.
As per his observations and the hearsay, the village didn’t know that they had their own ship. The attack by the land was a distraction while they were launching the real attack. He smiled, he was just waiting for the signal.
“Small boat!” one of the lookouts who was using magic to see in the dark screamed. “One boy and a man!” he added what he saw.
“Still no? Signal?” one of the newly recruited crew asked.
It should have been anytime now but there was still no signal.
“The boy threw something!” the crew who was on the look out reported. Something landed on their ship and everyone took a look at it.
“Gyaaah!” “It’s a head!” “Throw it away!” the crew members panicked seeing the head roll around.
The captain kicked the head off the ship. The ship rocked a little because of this.
“The boy is gone!” another report then suddenly the ship stopped rocking.
It was the boy staring at their soul, he was not human, there were two eyes that were glowing yellow.
“Balask!” Captain Jon muttered. There was a legend that a monster began living just south of the Sun God Peak. Among the stories that were said in the hearsays of the adventurers and such.
When the Sun God Peak was destroyed, something that was sealed under it was released. The adventurer’s guild sent numerous parties to subjugate it but everyone failed to the point that no one returned. For some time they restricted the area and it ended a month ago after the church reported that they had slain it.
The monster was named ‘Balask’ because of its yellow eyes.
Captain Jon didn’t mutter anything, there was nowhere to go.
<--->
A day ago. On the balcony of the Village Chief’s house in the Fisher Man’s Village. 3 silhouettes were there standing, looking into the horizon.
“Simon will deal with the ship, he just needs someone to row him into their ship,” the old man said, looking into the horizon of the village while rubbing his arms.
The village chief who was listening shivered “I understand.”
The old man included the boy in their plan to defend the village, even though the boy was not present.
The Black Hood who also stayed in the village told them of the impending threat, the Church of Light had an excellent system of gathering intelligence even on the frontier.
“So we will deal with the attack from the land,” the Black Hood muttered.
The old man looked back by turning his head in the Black Hood’s direction. “This is a good time, how about you just write down that I have succumbed in my fight against Redgar?” the old man said.
He knew that the Order of the Black Hood had a specific mission, they record the lives of the Heroes of the Era. The Black Hood was silent, he stared at the old man.
“... Anything else?” the Black Hood asked.
“The bounty on the boy, make it go away, make sure nobody could find him, erase every rumor, that Balask thing,” the old man smiled. He knew that the task that he was giving to the Black Hood was actually easy.
“I understand, then after the defense of the village I would be going… nice meeting you,” the Black Hood said.
The old man nodded along with the Black Hood.
“You are not going to kill me aren’t you?” the village chief asked.
“No,” the Black Hood was the one who answered. “-I know you can keep a secret, that’s why we are talking in front of you,” he added as he suddenly disappeared like a mist. He had things to prepare before the thieves arrived.
The old man tapped the shoulders of the Village Chief. “Let’s go inside, the boy must have already finished the training,” the old man went in first.
Pam had already left by the time the old man could stand up again. The old man was grateful to Pam for taking care of him, so he secretly gave her a letter to deliver to the guild master. He wanted her to be rewarded properly so it contained instructions that the Pam would be handsomely rewarded.
The two went inside, the Village Chief sat to calm himself down while the old man went down to the basement. The village chief’s house was erected on a dead coral mass that also served as the basement of the house. The boy was there, meditating, practicing the Flow exercise of magic.
“Boy! We will be slaying some thieves! Probably tomorrow night?” the old man said smiling.
“Thieves?” the boy repeated the old man’s words.
“Thieves are there so you can try killing humans,-” the old man’s wise words as he sat down to watch the boy. “Have you already tried the new sword?” the old man asked.
“It's too light,” was an honest answer from the boy.
“Thought so,” the old man commented.